Field of the Invention
This invention relates to socket wrenches and more particularly, to a specially designed socket drive and socket having a universal coupling which is designed to selectively engage, remove and tighten bolts and nuts that are located in inaccessible areas in such machinery as combines, machines for picking cotton and other machinery and equipment. The socket drive and socket combination of this invention is characterized by a drive member located at one end of a drive shaft for engaging a conventional ratchet wrench or other drive mechanism and a socket mounted to a universal coupling on the opposite end of the drive shaft. The socket is maintained in selective alignment with the drive shaft in stable, angular relationship with respect to the drive shaft about a 360 degree axis of rotation, by means of a spring-loaded collar which is seated on the drive shaft by a sleeve and snap-ring combination. Both the socket and the collar are bevelled at the respective edges of contact to maintain this selective fixed angular relationship, in order to facilitate insertion of the socket on relatively inaccessible bolt heads and nuts located in heavy equipment such as engines, combines, cotton-picking equipment and like machinery.
One of the problems which exists in the maintenance of complex machinery and other equipment assembled with nuts and bolts is that of inserting a socket on a bolt head or nut located in relatively inaccessible spaces and areas in the machinery. Socket drive systems which are fitted with conventional universal joints for attaching the sockets to the drive shaft are available to help in this regard, but since the conventional universal joint socket attachment is deliberately loose to facilitate slack in the universal joint coupling, it is sometimes difficult to match the socket with a selected bolt or nut for removal or tightening of the bolt or nut in a given location. This problem is intensified under circumstances where many such bolts and nuts must be periodically removed and then replaced, or tightened in the course of repairing and/or maintaining such equipment.